Another Day at the Faire

 Every year in May (weekends only) there is a Renaissance Faire just outside of Nashville. We celebrated Mother's Day there this year and then a couple weeks later we visited again.

On our second trip to the Faire we saw different things than on our first, and it wasn't quite so crowded.  One of my favorite shows was the live chess game.

It was fun to see the "pieces" sword fight for their squares and it was fun to see the French beat... with some modification to the standard rules.

Since this Faire is not quite so big as the Southern California one it is much more kid friendly, and we got a private audience with Queen Elizabeth I. It was my first time meeting her and I was very excited.


The Nashville Faire's main claim to fame is that it is the only Renaissance Faire in the US to be held on the grounds of an actual Castle!

The Castle was built by a Mr. Dan Freeman and is actually his personal home!

Every year he sponsors the Ren Faire and he allows tours of part of his castle home and grounds.



It was actually more of just letting us wonder around than a tour. Which was so nice, so fun, and so relaxing. Also, the inside had air conditioning. Thank you Mr. Freeman!

In the Great Room of his Castle there was this 800 year old Sword on display. It was excavated from Jerusalem and is from one of the Crusades.  Mr. Freeman is one of four owners this sword has had, the first being the Knight who lost it on his Crusade.

 Also in The Great Room is this authentic replica chandelier that lowers so each candle can be lit and then raises again to light the room. I didn't ask if the wax drips or not.

 This is an actual Irish Elk head and antlers. The Irish Elk was the largest deer that ever lived and has been extinct for 7,700 years.

 Each arch in the castle is hand made and authentic to the time period.

 After we wandered around the castle and grounds we made our way back to the Festival grounds.  We were given a much welcomed break from the heat with a 15 minute rain shower that gave us a second wind to stay till closing.  

Bonnie Rose was such a good sport and loved seeing all the people dressed up. Even though she was so tired and so hot she was always in a good mood and had a smile for everyone.

There are so many fun things to do at the Fair that I think I could go every weekend for the whole month and still not see all the shows or eat all the treats or play all the games.

 It was Pirate Weekend at the Faire so William is dressed up like a Pirate and here with Captain Red Beard.

During of one of Baby Girl's hottest moments when she didn't want to be held or be in her stroller any more and wasn't in the mood to hold hands, she discovered that I had a rope tired around my waist and thought that was great fun.

She was not only content to stay near Mama holding on the rope but she thought it was the greatest fun to run and pull me around where ever she went.

We were a happy little Ren Fair Family. Next time I'll have Baby Girl dressed up in her little costume I'm putting together for her.